Government considers making cyber ransom payments illegal after Medibank hack

Minister Clare O'Neil says health insurer was right not to pay ransom, even as hackers threatened to release more customer data to dark web

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It could soon be illegal for companies that fall victim to data breaches to pay ransoms to the hackers.

The home affairs minister, Clare O'Neil, confirmed the government was examining whether new laws were needed to stop ransom payments in the wake of the Medibank and Optus data breaches.

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